


Loyalties

by SwirlsOfBlueJay



Category: Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-20
Updated: 2011-07-20
Packaged: 2017-10-21 14:11:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,371
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/226069
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SwirlsOfBlueJay/pseuds/SwirlsOfBlueJay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This was written for tvd_rareships fic exchange for sunsetdawn20. The prompt was;  Klaus/Stefan/vamp!Jenna - years after S2, as a final proof of their loyalty, Klaus sends Stefan and Jenna to kill Elena (if they succeed is up to you). Damon and Bonnie ended up having roles in the whole saga also.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Loyalties

“Want to go to bed?” Klaus says, smiling a domineering smile. It’s not a question.

 

Stefan nods minutely, with an upside down smile that’s somehow still a smile, and heads towards the bedroom.

 

“Maybe if you want loyalty, you shouldn’t ask so many non-questions,” Jenna states drunkenly, placing the empty bottle precariously on the table and wondering whether they’ll manage to smash it all the way from the bed.

 

“I want for nothing,” Klaus laughs, taking Jenna’s hand and leading her into the room.

 

“Vampire loyalty can’t be bought with niceties,” Stefan tells Jenna, wrapping her hair in his clenched fist, pulling her in to roughly bite her lip. Blood stains her chin like she has just had lunch, and she nips back in return; warring her tongue in the little tear as it closes.  

 

“Though a loyalty demonstration sounds like fun,” Klaus says with a quasi-thoughtful expression.

 

 

: :

 

 

Blood sits sticky on Stefan’s teeth like toffee apples, and wood bullet laden guns are tilted at windows all around. He can feel their presence, dicing up the air into their manageable chunks. Imagines invisible target marks dotting his chest. He still refrains from licking his teeth. It might be the last blood he gets for a while. They won’t kill him. They aren’t foolish enough to draw Klaus’ wrath by destroying his shiny toy.

 

He waits.

 

His fall is graceless. Knowing the pain is coming doesn’t reduce it. There are eight bullets. They slice like fireworks lit too early. Stefan licks his lips before passing out.

 

 

: :

 

 

He’s less surprised than he should be when he wakes to Damon’s face. There are only two sides in this war. Damon probably insisted on questioning the new prisoner once he realised who it was. His brother has that same cold, calculated look Stefan has seen too often; he thinks Damon must use it on all the captives. Then again, Stefan isn’t just any prisoner.

 

He suspects Damon doesn’t know whether this is an intervention or an interrogation. It’s weakness, and that’s something Stefan can use; this is war after all.

 

“What do you want Damon?” Stefan asks, using an affectation he hasn’t used in years, hasn’t used since back when he was the ‘good’ brother. Damon sighs.

 

“Just the truth.”

 

“You think you want the truth, you don’t really know what you want.”

 

“Why don’t we start with why you’re here,” Damon says firmly. Stefan grins.

 

“Oh, the usual, see the sights, visit old friends, kill Elena,” Stefan says with nonchalance.

 

“Seriously Stefan, fake-out mission mention, that’s so 90’s villain,” Damon smirks.

 

“It’s classic,” Stefan says, smiling back. 

 

 

::

 

 

Jenna creeps stealthily, hackles raised. She knows Stefan has been caught, and he’s far better than her at this. She wonders briefly whether she should incorporate a rescue into her plan, and dismisses the idea. Klaus will come for Stefan.

 

The contact is sitting where he should be, that doesn’t mean the plan is going well. She approaches with a sweet smile; she isn’t as cruel as she should be. Many underestimate her for it. She offers her hand with a lady-like delicacy she never had- not even as a human. The round-faced contact squeezes on the wrong side of hard, and she curls her ring finger into itself- ever ready for a daylight-ring-snatch type of attempt on her life. Nothing happens.

 

The contact- claiming to be called Eric –outlines the security details of the compound Elena is staying in. Jenna refrains from sighing.  

 

 

::

 

 

Damon enters, clearly schooling movements into indifference; if Stefan was anyone else he would fall for it. He drives a stake through Stefan’s thigh. 

 

“It’s about time,” Stefan manages to laugh.

 

“The truth,” Damon says plainly, eyes darkening in anger.

 

“Funny question, especially when you’re lying so hard to yourself, deluding yourself,” Stefan scoffs.

 

Damon lets out a bout of derisive laughter.

 

“Says Mr brainwashed.”

 

 

::

 

 

It has been days since he has had blood. Katherine’s description is startlingly accurate; sandpaper veins are scraping each other raw.

 

“I need blood,” he begs Damon, not bothering to hide how pitiful he is; it all serves his greater end.

 

“Then it would be a good idea to start talking,” Damon says solemnly.

 

Damon is busy being determined not to fall for any ruse but Stefan can tell this is getting to him.

 

“Please, brother... Klaus would kill me,” Stefan states bluntly.

 

It’s a lie; at this point he doubts Klaus could bring himself to do it even if he wanted to, which is why the almighty original feels the need for this ridiculous ‘loyalty’ test.

 

 

: :

 

 

Damon wakes him the next morning, holding a blood bag. Stefan drinks without desperation but also without preamble.

 

“Why are you so loyal to someone who hurts you?” he asks plainly, “I can protect you.”

 

Stefan stays silent; he is secure in his choice, there’s no need for verbal justification.

 

“He has you twisted around so bad that you can’t even see sense anymore,” Damon argues with deliberate condescension.  

 

“He set me free, let out the creature I truly am; the creature I was when I turned, before Lexi chained me- roped me down with idle promises of better- life was never better.” 

 

“And this,” Stefan says, indicating the blood bag, “is because you know I’m right.”

 

 

: :

 

 

Jenna considered her plan to infiltrate the compound. The place was typical of a compound; its security comprised of around twenty witches, thirty vampire hunters, fifty entrapment spells, and wooden spike lined roof tops, and it held approximately six hundred free humans (the war had decimated most of humanity).

 

It would be almost impossible to get to Elena’s room without triggering one of the entrapment spells, it would be better if they could catch her in one of the dining halls. But the first stage was conning an invite in; once she got that invite she could go back whenever she needed to. Compulsion was a no-no, they checked for that in new arrivals. But those weren’t the only tools of influence at Jenna’s disposal.

 

She slid up to one of the male slaves at the market; purposefully over-acting in her casual stance, to appear inexperienced.

 

“I know a way out,” she whispered, “and a compound that would take us, but I need your help,” Jenna admitted, slipping a hand over his arm.  

 

 

: :

 

 

“How about you tell me the top secret plan, and I put in a good word for you. You could join us; you would like it here- plenty of Bambi eaters.”

 

“I haven’t been that way in a very long time,”

 

“I know,”

 

“Do you even like it here?”

 

“Not everyone’s an annoying dick,” Damon nods.

 

“Why are you so keen on me flipping sides?”    

 

“Because you’re an idiot.”

 

 

: :

 

 

Jenna allowed the slave- Peter- to help her up the building’s side, and work with her winding half way through the night darkened city.

 

Once they got two thirds of the way, she pretended to slip on one of the hand holds and fell to the ground. She told Peter to go on without her, but that she would meet him in two days, and he could welcome her inside their new home. He kissed her on the forehead and left; promising to return if she didn’t appear.

 

 

: :

 

 

“What do you want Stefan?”

 

“Just the truth.”

 

“Funny.”

 

“You and I could be great together, we always were,” Stefan says, playing to Damon’s weaknesses, and continues;  

 

“Can you tell me, honestly, why you’re fighting in this war?”

 

Damon pauses; his standard answer of ‘Klaus took my brother’ doesn’t quite work here.

 

“I’m fighting to get the real you back,” he finally answers.

 

“This is the real me, Damon, I need you to trust me just this once,”

 

“Ok, you tell me honestly then; deep down, are you happy being like this?”

 

Stefan takes a breath; he’s had his doubts- who wouldn’t- but he knows the answer he has to give;

 

“Yes,” he exhales, “you can have the real me back Damon; all you have to do is let yourself,” Stefan says, and barely feels remorse for the shadowed hope in his brother’s eyes.

 

“Okay then,” Damon answers softly- just like Stefan knew he would.

 

From the moment he saw the hint of intervention in the lines of his brother’s face, he knew Damon would give in- if only because he was too tired and desperate to do otherwise. 

 

 

: :

 

 

Damon walks Stefan out of the cell with his hands cuffed behind him. Stefan bows his head, and Damon doesn’t avoid anyone’s eyes.

 

“Hey Damon,” the guard at the exit greets.

 

“Hi Ed,” Damon answers, and moves towards the door smiling- with no further explanation.

 

“Going down to C complex?” the guard asks casually.

 

“No, F complex today,” Damon replies relaxed, but Stefan can feel the fingers holding him tense.

 

The guard barks out a laugh, patting Damon on the back;

 

“Just checking, can never be too careful,”

 

Damon nods solemnly; “Of course.”

 

Stefan stays in his ‘prisoner’ pose until they’re completely clear of the place.

 

 

: :

 

 

It takes a while to find a working payphone. All the while Stefan watches Damon, as his brother watches him in turn. Damon fidgets. He pulls Damon into the tiny glassed space; fearing he will disappear like dandelion seeds on the wind, if Stefan allows time for it.

 

“It’s unlike you to be unsure,” Stefan states, fingers tapping on disused buttons.

 

“Well, I just turned my back on everything, for you of all people,” Damon replies beaming wildly.

 

“Yeah, you really care that much?”

 

Damon shrugs.

 

“Ok, so that’s not it. Don’t tell me you’re scared of Klaus?”

 

“Never! It’s just, he’s going to be angry with you, bringing a potential spy into the camp,”   

 

“He’ll be angry, but he’ll get over it; the thing we have is fucked up like that.”

 

“How’s that?”

 

“We screw each other over, we get over it, he sends me on near suicidal missions, we screw each other over again, then we screw a little; and life goes on.”   

 

 

: :

 

 

“What’s he doing here?” Jenna demands, as they approach her hiding spot.

 

“I got us a turncoat,” Stefan states.

 

“Klaus will make us all pay for this, he could kill you!” Jenna snaps.

 

“It’s a possibility,” Stefan replies with detachment.

 

They fall silent as a guard passes nearby.

 

“Ok, execute the plan now, discussion of your suicidal behaviour later,” Jenna orders.   

 

“Actually, with Damon here we could simplify the plan,” Stefan points out. Jenna glowers.

 

“How exactly,” Jenna asks through gritted teeth, even though she’s pretty sure she knows exactly what ridiculous idea is coming.

 

 

: :

 

 

Damon walks up to the compound’s entrance and knocks on the door. This was his reckless idea, and it’s not like Klaus’ chief Lieutenants could pull this off; they would be recognised as the enemy immediately. He lets his excitement and adrenaline burn over his nerves as the slot is opened.

 

“I would like to speak to Miss Elena Gilbert,”

 

“Entrance papers,” the rectangle of eyes and face demands.

 

“I don’t have entrance papers; I’m a vampire,” Damon replies.

 

“Then you can’t come in,” the man huffs.

 

Damon measures his next words carefully; he may be reckless but he’s not suicidal.

 

“Could you please pass a message to her of my request to speak to her out here then?” he says.

 

“You can’t stay right outside; security protocol.”  

 

“Is there somewhere nearby...”

 

“Most people meet vampires in the woods; because of the woods,” the man finished in an admonishing tone.

 

“That would be wonderful, the name’s Damon,” Damon says sincerely, ignoring the tone.

 

He hears the man press some buttons, there’s an array of coded beeps in response.

 

“She’s busy now, says she’ll meet you later today,”

 

“Thank you,” Damon says smiling brightly.

 

He heads back to the woods.

 

“Told you it would work,” Damon tells them.

 

“I never doubted,” Stefan says.

 

“We need to counter her suspicions properly though,” Jenna adds.

 

"Well, duh," Damon replies.

 

 

: :

 

 

Damon and Stefan banter with spiked amusement, and for the first time in years Jenna feels alone. Jenna looks intently at Stefan; she knows him well, and yet she can’t see a trace of doubt or remorse for their current mission.

 

“We’re probably in for a long wait; I’ll go get us some food,” Stefan says.

 

“Trying to run off and leave us with all the work?” Jenna jokes.

 

“When have I ever missed the fun,” Stefan retorts smirking.

 

“Not having doubts then?” Jenna asks.

 

“No,” Stefan states with genuine indifference, then gazes at her with curiosity, “are you?”

 

“Maybe,” Jenna says hesitantly.

 

“We have our orders,” Stefan says coldly, eyes turning hard and warning.

 

“Are you really not bothered by this at all?” Jenna asks disbelievingly.

 

“She’s just a woman I loved once,” Stefan states, as he walks off in search of stragglers.

 

 

: :

 

 

Jenna takes a moment to glance at Elena as she walks towards their ambush, (Bonnie predictably at her side) she’s shocked by Elena’s mature features. In their lives it’s easy to forget that all faces don’t stay frozen in time. As Elena nears, Damon steps out of his hiding place and moves towards them.

 

Bonnie immediately sends him crashing to the ground, filling his head with aneurysms.

 

“Whatever you want, you’re not going to find it here,” she exclaims, continuing the onslaught. 

 

“Bonnie, that’s enough,” Elena placates.

 

“Why are you here?” Bonnie questions demandingly.

 

“To talk to Elena,” Damon says weakly through the pain.  

 

“Stop lying,” Bonnie commands, increasing the intensity of her attack; the girl obviously needs to be distracted.

 

Jenna whooshes through the tree tops, rattling tree branches in her wake. Bonnie moves her eyes minutely over the unseen predator circling her, but remains focused on Damon. Jenna lets out taunting cackles that crack too harshly against her own ears, and reminds herself that even if she did care; she doesn’t have a choice.

 

She feels her head burn, tendrils shooting through her like a grenade against an oil drum; Bonnie has found her. Her body falls, scraping too often against too sharp wood. All seems lost. Then Bonnie screams. 

 

Stefan has bitten through her jugular, standing behind her- he continues to drink; having already done too much damage for Bonnie to fight back.

 

“No! Bonnie!” Elena cries, pointing a stake laden cross-bow Stefan’s way.

 

Having mostly recovered, Damon shoots across the space between them; swiftly pulling the weapon out of Elena’s grip. Elena spins around, bringing out another stake to plunge into Damon. Stefan darts past, taking it. The brothers give each other a nod. And proceed to whirl around her; tearing away the remainder of weaponry from this girl who was once Jenna’s niece. Jenna lets them.    

 

“Run,” Stefan lilts a high cheery note into Elena’s ear.

 

Elena sprints away, looking for hiding places or branches that can be detached quickly. The moment after she grabs a large stick, Damon is beside her holding her wrist. She lets out a shrill cry, dropping the piece of wood. Jenna can hear Elena’s wrist bones grinding together.

 

“He said run, not fight,” Damon whispers roughly.

 

Cradling her arm, Elena still stands up straight defiantly- refusing to run. Elena looks from Damon to Stefan and back again. Jenna can visualise the thought process taking place, weighing up which one of them would be easier to sway into saving her, seeking the talent she once seemed to wield with almost accidental efficiency to persuade them to do as she wished. Stefan and Damon watch her, waiting. Then realisation hits, and her eyes dull, those times are long gone; there is no hope here. The brothers grin at each other.

 

Stefan speeds past Elena, knocking her to the ground. Damon pulls her back up with her uninjured arm; snapping back fingers as he does.  

 

“Hurry up and kill her before more witches appear,” Jenna says, and her voice sounds oddly conceited.

 

Damon rolls his eyes. Stefan smirks but proceeds to stab Elena in the stomach. They watch as blood blooms across her brown shirt. Jenna takes her pulse to confirm that she’s dead.   

 

“What now?” Damon asks.

 

“Home,” Stefan answers, with a surety Jenna’s sure he doesn’t feel.

 

 

: :

 

 

“Look who I brought,” Stefan says, he sounds unconcerned, but his perpetually furrowed brow reveals otherwise.

 

Jenna is half expecting that Klaus will rip their heads off in fury. So of course Klaus has to be contrary.

 

“How lovely,” Klaus coos.

 

“It’s a pleasure to meet you again, Mr Salvatore,” Klaus adds, as though this is some normal boy-friend meets family scenario.  

 

 

: :

 

 

“If you refuse to play by my rules I’ll have to conclude that you’re a double agent,” Klaus says, voice holding an amused cadence.

 

“What would you do if I was a double agent?” Damon leers.

 

Jenna fumes silently; it has only been three weeks, and already Damon and Klaus are like two peas in a pod. He was already getting missions that were rightfully hers; she wasn’t going to just sit back and let him.

 

 

: :

 

 

Jenna let her heels clack loudly over the floor of the underground parking lot. She hated skulking in the shadows, but unfortunately the vampire she was meeting had no daylight ring. Abruptly a body drops in front of her, followed two seconds later by a head. It’s the vampire she was meeting.

 

“I know what you’re up to,” echoes in a sing-song tone. It’s Damon.

 

She draws her ears and eyes to attention, and refuses to spin around searching for him.

 

“I’ve no idea what you’re on about,” Jenna replies casually.    

 

“Tip; don’t try to frame people you openly hate. It’s too obvious,” Damon states; finally appearing before her, stake in hand.  

 

“You have no evidence,” Jenna argues, desperately trying to fight off the stronger vampire.

 

The stake strikes her heart. Pain climbs agonisingly over tendrils of newly dead flesh. Then all colour expires.  

 

 

: :

 

 

Damon stands leaning against the window seat, as the short vampire gibbers on about evidence suggesting the Murray gang had been behind Jenna’s death. Klaus throws out the occasional clipped question, and shortie gives flustered responses.

 

After the guy leaves, Klaus flashes across the room and pins Damon against the wall with his arm.

 

“I know it was you,” he hisses angrily.

 

Damon gives him an incredulous look.

 

“The proof says it’s the Murrays,” he points out offhandedly.

 

“I’ve been around for a long time. Don’t try to fool me.”  

 

“Klaus,” Stefan says appeasing, “why would he kill Jenna? It makes no sense.”

 

“Yes, Damon, why would you kill Jenna,” Klaus lilts. Damon sighs.

 

“I had to. I was just getting rid of her before she got rid of me,” Damon says, adamantly blasé.   

 

“There’s your answer,” Klaus tells Stefan, taking out a stake.

 

“I’m not a spy,” Damon states more urgently than he would ever admit.

 

"Maybe you are, maybe you're not. But I can't have people running around killing my lieutenants; it sets a precedent," Klaus says, the stake pressing insistently against cotton.

 

“Don’t do this, please don’t do this,” Stefan begs.

 

Damon nods at Stefan; a silent goodbye in his eyes.

 

Klaus ignores Stefan. He drives the stake into Damon’s chest, and then lets him fall to the floor.

 

“No, no, no, no,” Stefan whimpers, clinging onto Damon’s body.

 

“It had to be done. I’m sorry Stefan,” Klaus says softly, with a solemn expression on his face.

 

“You son of a bitch!” Stefan roars, lunging at Klaus.

 

“Can’t have you all vengeful, can we?” Klaus says in a scolding manner, pulling Stefan towards him.

 

“I’ll just have to make you forget.”

 

 

: :

 

 

Stefan walks along the road. He’s searching for something, but he doesn’t know what. Loneliness sits inside him like a barren tomb. He knows he’s missing something. There’s a shadow in his mind, words he never heard floating in the air.

 

He remembers being happy once, but maybe his memory is wrong. Invisible imprints of hands lay supportively on his shoulders. He also remembers hollow despair. It’s like someone tore off a limb, and left him to bleed, only muffling the pain with drugs.

 

“Stefan, it’s time to go home,” Klaus calls from across the street. Stefan nods, moving to follow.

 

“Did you ever compel me?” he asks.

 

“Only once; a few years ago,” Klaus replies.

 


End file.
